


Eden's Door

by Sorasky



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 01:41:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3710104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorasky/pseuds/Sorasky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is about Pre-game Joshua, because I always liked the idea of exploring his backstory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Joshua looked down at the cold barrel of steel in his hands. He knew Mr. H would be furious. Not only had he stolen this secret last resort of his from his drawer, he was going to use it in the worst possible way. But he had to know. He had to know what it was like. What did those people feel, running across Shibuya, not knowing if their ends would be in vain or not? 

He placed the barrel to his own head, and his finger wrapped around the trigger. He took one last living breath, looked around the room, and the hammer fell. 

His mother found him some hours later. She would cry, and hold a funeral and everything, but she didn’t really care. This was just another excuse to get more attention. His father would probably only be disappointed that he needed to find another heir to be his perfect little puppet. The company was all the was important, wasn’t it. Maybe they would churn out another kid. I didn’t matter anymore.

For years before he had watched the ghosts of Shibuya, with only one friend who understood, only one friend who could see the things he saw. That friend had always told him “Try your best not to end up like them, kid. It’s not as glamorous as it looks.” But ironically, death looked more like living than actually being alive. He could either continue his “life” of piano lessons, high school, and lectures from his father on corporate business, or run free through the streets of his favorite city. There wasn’t even a question about the decision he made in the end.

 

\---------------------------------------

He found himself waking up flat on his back, staring up at the sky while seemingly endless amounts of people passed by him, not noticing the pale young boy, passed out in the middle of scramble crossing. He had done it. He was in the UG. He stood up and checked his pocket for-- there it was. The player pin that marked his status as a part of this game, along with several other low level combat pins. His phone buzzed in his pocked and he checked it, already expecting what it would say.

“Today’s Mission: Reach 104  
Time Limit: 60 minutes

Best of Luck  
-The Reapers”

Joshua felt a sharp pain in his hand, and looked to see what else but the timer. He knew how this worked. He needed to find someone. Tatoo like frog symbols were already on his tail. 

He started to look around but before he had found anything, something bumped into his leg. He looked down to see another player, who had fallen down, and was scooting away from noise who were chasing him. He was a boy, not much older than Joshua, wearing a plain gray T-shirt and cargo pants. His brown hair was just long enough to come down past his ears. Seeing no other choice, Joshua posed the question, or rather the demand, to him. “Could I trouble you for a moment to save both our lives and make a pact with me?” 

The boy looked up and nodded, and the lights flashed around them. Then they were immediately transported into battle. It was time for Joshua to find out what he could do. Time for the first pin and… nothing. Okay, that was a bust, next. Nothing. Again and again and again, he could not use a single pin. He could feel his partner finding Thunderbolt and Pyrokinesis useful, but he could do nothing. His only hope was that he was one of those players who had their own psyche, using some item that they always had on their person. But the only thing he always kept on him was his phone… It was worth a shot. He took out his phone and started frantically pressing buttons.

Out of nowhere a vending machine fell from nothing and crushed a graffiti legged frog. He wondered if perhaps this was a random occurrence, or maybe the work of his partner. So he tried again, and this time after pressing various buttons, a bicycle, a sign and trash can fell from nothing. 

You cannot be serious. His psyche was trash. Literally. Regardless of the strange nature of his powers, he and his partner were able to make it through with only minor injuries.

He turned to greet his companion for the next seven days. “Well, it’s good to see I found such a strong and capable partner” He giggled “The name’s Yoshia Kiryu, but since we will be such dear partners for the next week, you can call me Joshua.” Joshua had been the pet name his parents had gifted him. It was the only thing they did that didn’t make him want to puke. He liked the ring of it.

“I-I’m Hiro. Hiro Nakajima” He spoke with a nervous and quiet tone. His right hand had a tight grip on his left shoulder, as if this was a defence mechanism. This was the first time Joshua noticed that the other boy was a whole head taller than him.

“Excellent job dealing with those noise back there. I see you stand tall in more ways than one.” Hiro seemed to miss the innuendo which disappointed Joshua. “Either way, we need to complete this mission. Hopefully this one was not too cryptic for you to guess the objective. Would you like some help?”

“N-no I understand it… thanks though… I didn’t really think I did all that good back there, you took out most of them…” He started walking towards the shopping mall that was their objective.

Joshua decided that he would make it his personal mission this week to find a way he could tease this boy. He would have to get creative.

As they continued walking Joshua thought to himself about how they should be hitting the wall right about… now. Just as he had this thought, Hiro slammed into something invisible and fell over. “Ah yes, you seem to have discovered the wall. Excellent job again, partner.” He turned on his heel to face the red-hooded reaper and gave him an expectant look. The reaper nodded and said “Pact confirmed, wall clear.”

Hiro stood up, rubbing his face. He turned to face the reaper as well, but he had vanished into thin air. Joshua began walking forward. “Well then Hiro, don’t fall behind, we have a mission to complete, after all.” Hiro gave a surprised look when Joshua walked straight through the space where the wall used to be. After a moment he gathered himself and followed the shorter boy.

“Sorry, about before, I didn’t see what I ran into.” Hiro mumbled. Joshua smirked, “Well thats the whole point, dear. You don’t see walls, but you call tell they’re there by the wall reaper nearby.” Hiro made another apology, and they continued until the timer on their hand disappeared. The mission was clear.

“That’s one day down Hiro, let’s see how long we can last together” Joshua remarked. Again, the innuendo flew right by Hiro. This teasing thing was going to be harder than Joshua originally thought. 

The heavy sleepiness quickly overtook both of them as they fell to the ground, the first day of seven was over.


	2. Chapter 2

Joshua’s eyes fluttered open. He sat up and looked around for his partner. Hiro was curled up like a cat about two feet away from him, still fast asleep. Joshua made a mental note to tease him about this later. His phone buzzing snapped him out of his thoughts. Joshua stood up and checked the mission mail.

“Mission: Defeat your enemy at the place where the animal is drawn to backstreets of society. The start is your key  
Time Limit: 200 minutes

Best of luck  
-The Reapers”

Hiro stirred a bit and woke up. He looked up and was just about to say something before the sharp pain of the timer appearing made itself known. 

“G-good morning…” Hiro mumbled. The pain wore off and Hiro stood up. For the first time Joshua noticed that they were standing right next to WILDKAT, Mr. Hanekoma’s constantly empty cafe. Today it seemed that it was truly empty, as the sandal wearing barista was not there.

Hiro looked at the mission mail on his own phone. “The place where the animal is drawn to society?” he questioned. 

“The start is our key, huh? So this place has something to do with where we have to go.” Joshua thought out loud. There had to be something nearby that had to do with animals being drawn to society. 

Joshua turned around to go looking for something that could help and almost ran straight into someone. Joshua looked to see a girl just a bit shorter than him. Her hair was a very dark gray, and reached down to her lower back. She wore a light gray sweater that was a bit too big for her, a black skirt, long black socks and dress shoes. 

“Sorry.” she grunts. Hiro takes a more wary stance and looks at her skeptically. 

“What’s wrong with you?” she questions him. 

“Y-you can see us… That means you’re either a player or a reaper, a-and I don’t see your partner.” He observed. ‘Very astute Hiro’ though Joshua to himself. 

“I’m not a reaper. No wings. See?” She turned around to show her back, and indeed, there were no black skeletal wings to be found. 

“That’s not enough… I still don’t see any partner.” Hiro murmured in return

“I… don’t… have one.” She stammers out, almost as an excuse. 

Joshua crosses his arms and smirks. “Then pray tell, how have you been avoiding the noise?” He retorted. The girl looked flustered, as if searching her brain for an answer.

“I… ran. That’s what I did. I ran.” she blurted.

“Well if you were a reaper you would have had already sicked some noise on us by now.” Joshua pointed out. “Hiro, I don’t think we have any reason not to believe her.” 

“Fine…” You could tell he wasn’t happy about the decision, but he also didn’t want to argue.

“May I inquire as to your name?” Joshua asked.

“Eden. Eden Teien.” She answered. Eden shifted a bit on her feet.

“My name Is Yoshia Kiryu, but you can call me Joshua. The quiet one is Hiro. Would you perhaps have any idea as to the mission, Miss Eden?” Joshua questioned.

“My phone’s broken. I don’t have it.” She stated. Joshua got the feeling that this was not the whole truth, but it wasn’t of any consequence.

“Alright, fine. It reads ‘Defeat your enemy at the place where the animal is drawn to backstreets of society. The start is your key.’” Joshua replied. “I’m sorry to have to ask but we’ve been going back and forth, but we can’t seem to get it right.” Once more, the innuendo passed in one ear and out the other for Hiro, but Eden caught right onto it. If looks could kill, Joshua would be dead all over again. This girl was going to be a much easier teasing target.

After a long pause of staring daggers at Joshua, she thought a bit and came up with an answer “If it’s about animals and the starting point, I have an idea. Come with me.” She began walking towards the back of Mr. Hanekoma’s cafe. When they arrived, they saw a large mural displayed on the back of the building of the word CAT. “I always thought this stuff was weird and pretentious, but it’s near the starting point, and a cat is an animal, so this is the best I have.”

Joshua had to resist the urge to slap himself in the face. It was so obvious. CAT, animals, drawn to, backstreets. He had no Idea how he had missed that. “I believe I have some idea where it is we need to go.” They both turned to look at him expectantly. “Come now, it can’t be that difficult to see. I’m sure you could put your heads together and think of something.”

“Just tell us already.” Eden scoffed as she crossed her arms. 

“We have to go to Udagawa. Specifically the CAT mural there. It fits all of the criteria.” He disclosed.

“Then why are we just waiting, we have a place to be.” snarled Eden. 

Joshua giggled as he turned around to walk halfway across shibuya. The trip there was mainly uneventful, apart from from a wall reaper that required Hiro to try on some D+B threads. Which was something Joshua was never going to let him forget. 

When they arrived at the small back street, at the farthest reaches of the city, they were greeted by a large mural of a black cat with stars for eyes. As always there was a slight tug one felt when looking at it. As if it was calling you, telling you to do something. This must be what the mission meant when it talked about being “drawn to.” 

They didn’t have any time to reflect on this, as before anyone could say anything, they were made aware of the noise that must have been the “enemy” they had to defeat. 

“Are you prepared Hiro, or do I need to give you time before you’re ready?” Joshua snickered. Even if Hiro would never get the innuendos, that wasn’t going to stop him from making them. Besides, Eden got them, and her reaction’s weren’t half bad.

“N-no…” Hiro muttered “I have to do this. I have to win this game…” The second part was more to himself than to Joshua, but the smaller boy still caught his words.

“If you really believe that then we shouldn’t wait, we should go right in.” declared Joshua. Immediately after, they went straight to the noise plain.

They were greeted by two large, white bear like noise, with the obligatory tattoo arms. Their lips curled back to reveal their snarling teeth. One of them roared and charged straight for Joshua, and was promptly, hit in the back of the head with a falling bicycle. Quickly shaking it off, it continued it’s charge. 

Joshua had never actually been in the game before, but he knew most things about it, but most importantly, he knew what he needed to do in order to work well with his partner. He had to time his attacks, be in sync with Hiro. He had his friendly neighborhood barista to thank for this bit of knowledge.

His thoughts were half connected to Hiro, even though he was on the other plane, and Hiro seemed to get the message. They began to find a rhythm, attack one after the other, and slowly, their attack became stronger and faster. Joshua could feels every movement of his partner, and even without words, he knew what his next move would be, and timed his own movements accordingly. 

the bears had nothing on them, and only managed to get in a few lucky shots in, a few scratches here and there, but nothing substantial. The two boy’s attacks became stronger and stronger, faster and faster. Hiro was letting out huge chains of lightning bolt and Joshua even managed to drop an entire car, crushing the last bear.

They returned from the noise plane and the timer disappeared from their hands. Joshua was finding it harder and harder to regret his decision to come into this game. This was the real way to enjoy this city. After a quick congratulations the sleepiness overtook them once more. 

He was never sure, but Joshua thought he didn’t see Eden fall asleep at all.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first real attempt at writing things for twewy, and I think it went well for a first try. Some of the characters here are prototypes for other OCs I have been working on.
> 
> If you feel like it, you can find me at my tumblr Headphone-Twister (URL may change soon)


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